Prophecy
Reviewed by:
las7, on september 28, 2005 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sound: Amid a war of words in 1996 when Max Cavalera left Sepultura, the metal world was left deprived of one of its leading acts. As Max tried his best to create something to rival the Sepultura legacy. It is with this album that I believe Max finally steps out of the shadow of his past. After a few miserable attempts this is the CD that Sepultura should have made after "Roots." It's cutting edge, it's experimental, it's really out there. It's the only Soulfly disc that deserves to be put in my CD collection next to Arise, Chaos AD, Roots, BTR and even the under produced Schizophrenia. It can never be as good as those albums, the Igor drumming is missing but as a whole this CD was a huge surprise since I had given up on Max after he created some pretty trendy stuff. The CD overall feel is non existent there are latino, r&b, thrash, reggae, jazz, nu-metal and metalcore elements. Some songs seem to really work well with the combination of so many styles; others just don't seem to pull it of. As a whole this album is an experimentation GEM, if at any point you have though to your self why isn't metal fused a lot more with Latin guitar, with percussion, with reggae, then listen to this. It's hard to like everything on the album because it's hard even to an open minded person like myself to feel every single track. But the listening experience is worth it I'm sure that anyone who was ever into Sepultura can find something that he likes on this CD, its not nor will it ever be as good but its much better then anything that Sepultura have put out post Max Cavalera. // 7

Lyrics: Vocals and lyrics, it's hard for me to sum up the subjects on this disc, it tackles Religion, Belief, Faith, Death with clever lyrics about how the world has ended up regressing spiritually through its insistence on warfare ("I am Mars the God of war/You bow to me like you did before"). The vocals are well hard to describe spoken word, singing by Max, a few featuring including reggae singer (Moses), r&b singer (Wings) and Max's unmistakable old-vocals. // 9

Overall Impression: Overall this album cannot be understood by anyone who doesn't have an open mind. If Max doesn't pull of the experimentation it's still a listenable track but when they work, they sound grand, as in the Spanish guitars within Mars, the spoken words and reflective instrumentation in I Believe and the crazy percussion of Born Again Anarchist. The Latin jazz intro to Porrada seems completely random. But the album doesn't disappoint even with its flaws it's a great album over all from a man I had given up on. If I had it stolen, I would definitely call Max so he could give me another copy. // 8

Prophecy
Reviewed by:
UG Team, on april 06, 2004 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Sound: Even though the former frontman of Sepultura dedicates this disc to God and emphasizes his faith on tracks like I Believe and Moses, he still hasn't forgotten how to play the devil's music. This 56-minute set delivers the same punishing collision of tribal percussion and death-metal brutality fans have come to expect from Cavalera -- and in stronger doses than on his past couple of so-so albums.
Prophecy's first five cuts come armed with stone-carved riffs that are ragged, sharp, and fresh from the grinding wheel, and hulking steamroller rhythms, until "Mars," halfway through, deviates into a placid oasis-jam of Caribbean percussion, organs, and nylon-string mariachi guitar. "I Believe" and "Moses" are perhaps Cavalera's most powerful and spiritual endeavors to date, the former a heartfelt, unpretentious excursion into melody and spoken word expression, and the latter being a fascinatingly meandering, reggae-inflected jam with Serbian group Eyesburn.
Along with that, though, there's enough innovation here -- these dozen tracks incorporate everything from reggae and samba to belly-dance grooves and marching bands -- to make this the most eclectic and intriguing effort of Cavalera's career. // 10

Lyrics: Cavalera gets back to the roots of heavy metal not just with mysic, but with lyrics too. // 8

Overall Impression: Call it The Passion of Max Cavalera. Prophecy, the fourth album from the singer-guitarist's Brazilian death-thrash outfit Soulfly, is also his most spiritual album to date. The venerable Max Cavalera unfurls another diverse sonic tapestry with "Prophecy" ? and where the former Sepultura man of ideas floundered a bit with Primitive and 3, Prophecy simultaneously returns to his roots (pun intended) while successfully integrating the myriad of organic influences that resulted in his being tagged the "Bob Marley of metal." // 8

Prophecy
Reviewed by:
THE KORNMAN, on june 23, 2004 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Sound: The sound is great. From heavy metal to reggae/ska to tribal + Spanish guitar to pure agression, Prophecy's sound and variety is amazingly impressive. Max must have one of the greatest voices in rock today. But, after a while, slipping from metal into soft tribal beats in the same song (example: Mars, In the Meantime, Porrada), can get just a little annoying when you're in a mood to smash something. If you're not in a destructive mood, the transitions are fine and won't be so annoying. Anyway, the sound is really great, overall. // 10

Lyrics: The lyrics are totally metal style and I love it. Max can scream and sound wonderful doing it. He talks a lot about about God on this record, but it's not so bad. It's actually pretty cool that he can express his feelings freely. The lyrics totally match the music perfectly. // 10

Overall Impression: Prophecy is definately worth buying. I love the fact that Max is not afraid to express his religious beliefs and I love the fact that Soulfly aren't afraid to musically mix it up with different musical genres. Prophecy is a great CD for the summer. // 10